San Vuon Cafe — Restaurant in Houston

I came here on a quiet Wednesday afternoon, I have honestly never heard about this place before! I only seen the pictures of the outside area they have and immediately took me and my mom to go have dinner. Get ready for this long review, this place deserves it.

The stars are low for me to even consider this place but it’s safe to say that I fell in love with this restaurant. We were immediately greeted and seated down to an area next to the kitchen where my mom and I were able to smell the delicious smokey food coming from the kitchen. It smelt so delicious and I became so excited!

My mission has been finding the best pho broth in Houston, Texas. So far I have been to countless restaurants already but there is no place like the aesthetic this specific spot has. The place on the outside is old and has been well kept and preserved. The entrance is cutesy, being right next to the highway and the parking lot across the street, you are in for a treat.

The place is big, featuring lots of tables and bar tables, adorable remodeled interior. Overall it gives you “Oh I want to return during nighttime”

I ordered •The combination pho •Grilled pork banh mi •Fish Sauce Wings

The wings came out first, they ask you if you want steamed rice or fried rice. I went with fried rice, the wings came in this BIG plate, with onions and bell peppers and even the vietnamese styled pickled carrots with daikon, and a bunch of beautiful lettuce leaves.

I have ordered this exact dish before at other restaurants, but they only give you the wings in a bowl, not all the extra things I just listed… ESPECIALLY a plate of fried rice, the rice was broken style and it was so delicious.

The wings though, freshly fried and crispy the outer layer had this magnificent crunch and the flavor was so perfect!! The chicken itself was marinated to the point that even the inside had a yellow pigment color from being marinated. 10/10

The pho came soon after, big bowls with hot broth and lots of meat.

The broth itself is very great compared to a lot of places! It was a great flavor and this place even has mini small side condiment dishes with CHILI OIL and sriracha and hoisin sauce.

I will applaud and appreciate places with this feature since I savor pho broth, I never try to add anything condiment like to change the profile whatsoever, and thats what those mini dishes are for!! The chili oil was not spicy, I dip parts of the meat and especially tenderloin in the dish, its great and you wont change your broth! I am very content!!

Next the banh mi! Personally I remove the spicy jalapeños since I am a wuss, but the bread was so soft. I have had banh mi with very tough crunchy bread to the point where your mouth feels so sore after eating but the bread here is SOFT!!! The pate tasted fresh, something screaming they either made it here or they buy pate thats very good. So delicious!!

I even ordered a strawberry banana smoothie and I was surprised to have finished it.. Especially with all this food I ordered.

I noticed this place has a stage likely for karaoke.

Then I remembered I saw the outside garden pictures! Me and my mom went outside to take a look and oh my goodness… It was screaming welcome home!! There were small little features EVERYWHERE!! From the ash trays, lots of seats and some raised up chairs and even a deck!! You turn right and see a small koi fish pond. They have a machine you insert .50 cents in to get fish food to feed them!! We did this after eating and the food lasted forever since we were giving it to the smaller fishes in the back. It was so beautiful being so close to these fishes. It was a great day outside and the outdoor patio was pretty much covered up. Playing nice fun summer music.

I fell in love with this place, I was so thrilled knowing the food was very delicious but it wasn’t only about the food. It was about the welcoming environment you feel whenever stepping into this restaurant that I have never felt before. You will leave this place feeling warm

This restaurant DESERVES more stars. Please...

Keeping with the trend of my friend making back into town. Saved a few new #Pho spots to try. Found San Vuon #Cafe via google reviews.

We had a number of issues here on our visit. While I’m not sure if it was my friend or the staff who dropped the ball or just plain miscommunication on the order. (Order was given in another language that I don’t understand)

It was handled VERY #poorly.

Would you pay, for a meal (They charged 50% off for the mix up) and not offer to box it up to go and still pay? This rubbed me the wrong way. (It was an extra order of wings, we only ordered 1 fyi)

I wasn’t able to get a refill on my drink, even asking 3 times to 2 different servers.

Even with these issues, the food was ok. The #pho had very little meat. 3-4 pieces of eye round and another 3-4 pieces of meatball.

The rice was hard, it’s why we didn’t touch any of it. Took a bite and was no good.

The wings and the spring rolls were the best part for me. Loved the flavor of the wings, and the charred grilled pork on the spring rolls.

It’s a quiet and quaint spot, and hard to spot from the highway. Easily missed as there wasn’t any signs to know where we were going.

If you stop by and give it a visit, hope you’ll have a better experience. But don’t think I’ll return.

Until next time.

Edit: In response to the owners reply. They stated they were extremely busy and new employees. While I don’t know if they are new.

The restaurant was practically empty when we were there. One party in the picture I’ve uploaded. 1 male across from us. And 2 other males who were smoking outside. If this is too Busy, and still mess up. I would want no part of what busy would bring.

I didn’t mention that an employee brought out and turned on a leaf blower inside the restaurant while...

After seeing so many positive reviews, I decided to take my family here for dinner and oh my, it was horrendous from the food to the service. Our family was the only ones in the restaurant yet it took forever for the food to the drinks to the plates and bowls. The restaurant was empty with 2 young servers running the place. Moving on to the food, the salty fish fried rice with shrimp, there was no shrimp or salty fish in the fried rice. Their popular dish is the mango salad, guess what there was no mango in the dish but just shredded carrots. Their pho is tasteless and smell funky as it was been sitting there then it goes bad. And their Thai hot pot, oh my, I was speechless as how their fish ball wasn’t even fresh, goes bad, smells horrible and yet still serving us with it including the mussels. I was having high hope with this place, convinced my family to goes here for my brother’s birthday yet nothing was delivered as I has hoped and my family was like “my god, what’s wrong with this place?” Yet still charging us 20% tips when service was nothing but horrible and super slow. So again, what’s sup with the positive reviews at this place. Huge no thank you and NO...